A PENSIONER with a heart condition has been banned from using a lift to get to her seat in the family stand at Bolton Wanderers' Reebok Stadium.

Season ticket holder Doreen Price, aged 71, has an irregular heartbeat and has been allowed to use a lift to get to her seat for the last four years.

But the club now says Mrs Price, from Heaton, must walk or move to another part of the stadium under new safety rules brought in by the club this season.

Allan Duckworth, chief executive for Wanderers' parent company Burnden Leisure, said they had consulted health and safety advisors and disabled groups over the issue.

He said: "We will not give disabled people passes to lifts to upper tiers on the basis that if an emergency happens, they will not be able to get down."

Mrs Price has been a regular follower of the club since the 1950s, when she and her late husband, James, went to the FA Cup final at Wembley.

Since he passed away five years ago, Mrs Price has been going to Wanderers in a group of eight including daughter Jean Gregory, son-in-law Stuart and grandson Matthew, aged 14, all from Bradshaw.

"It has upset me so much. I think it is wrong," said Mrs Price. "Since my husband died I have gone to pieces at times and I have needed my family and our visits to the club.

"If we all have to move because of me I will feel responsible. Being with my grandson and his friends is one of the lovely things about it.

"I am quite capable of walking down but I cannot walk up all those steps."

Mrs Gregory has produced a doctor's note to explain this to the club, but Wanderers maintain she will have to sit in a lower stand if she wants to carry on watching at the Reebok.

Daughter Jean Gregory said: "They have offered to move myself and my mother to another part of the ground, but why should we split up from our family and friends?"

Mr Duckworth added: "Safety has to be our primary concern and we cannot apologise for that.

"We understand that some people will be upset, but we are offering to relocate them and their families to suitable seats elsewhere in the ground."